Glossop's Small Books

At the moment we are all very restricted in our activities, which has given some of us enough time to work on our Small Books created at the recent workshop with Sandie Maher.  

My book is about birds.  Here are a few of the pages I have done:-

This is the cover of my book, using part of a ladies' hat made in the 1920s.

Please excuse my fingertips in the photos but it was the only way of holding the book open

Flowers are the focus of Joy's book:-

Chris's book is inspired by a holiday in Machu Pichu:-

and Jean, a member of Manchester branch, has used her book to record zentangle designs - zentangles are designs created from structured patterns:-

Very different results from the same workshop, and lots of inspiration for creating your own handmade book.

Workshop with Sandie Maher - Small Books

Sandie brought along a wonderful collection of her own hand-made books covering a wide range of subjects.  They gave everyone so much inspiration for their own books, and we couldn't wait to get started.

Many of the books had intricate cords and fastenings, and the covers were beautifully worked

Now for our own books:

first of all the pages - made from wallpaper lining paper - had to be well soaked, then everyone decided on the colours for painting the pages of their own book.

Then came the fun and messy part of the day - mixing the colours and sloshing the paint onto the paper.  

While waiting for the pages to dry Sandie talked to us about her work and the things she had learned while making her own books.  She was very generous with her ideas and advice for best practice, inspiring everyone to try something a little different.

Here are the projects at the end of the workshop - all of them very different, and you can see that some people worked much faster than others!  Everyone took their books home, looking forward to working on and completing them.  

Glossop - a town built on calico and cotton

At our first meeting of 2020 we were joined by a number of visitors and were very pleased to welcome Matthew Cox, a historian  and tour guide specialising in the history of Glossop.  

Matthew gave us an entertaining and absorbing talk accompanied by a presentation about the history of Glossop, especially in relation to its cotton mills and their social history.  The talk will provide lots of background for our next collaborative group project based on cotton mills.

Also at the meeting was this stitched map of Glossop, including some of its many old cotton mills.  The map has been skilfully stitched by our members Ann Cornes and Christine Bardsley.

Everyone was also asked to bring their stitched fishes and other sea creatures so that Nikki can take them for incorporation in a panel which will eventually be presented by Glossop EG to Reuben's Retreat.  Here is some of the wonderful work you have created:

- and a few close-ups: